Imaginary
by Agent Silver
Summary: Oneshot. What's it like for an innocent girl to wander in a broken down pier, to find a new friend? RR!


I have no idea how I could write this. I think the southern heat wave really got into my brain. : )Read 'n' review!

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Imaginary

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Little Jessica loved boats. She loved the sea. Fishing was always her favorite thing to do with her father, who happened to be a fisherman on the job.

She hangs out by river, chasing the seagulls. She'd watch the many cars that past the street that leads towards the beach. She would look at them for fun.

Sometimes she'd walk down the riverwalk, other times she'd just walk down the sidewalks, watching the cargo boats swim by. She'd sit by the planks, her feet in the water, the wind blowing her blonde hair. Little Jessica was only about 5 years old. She always smiled and giggled for nothing.

One day, she had a bunch of daisies in her small pocket, and it was a sunny day. Her father lets her wander the beach. That day, which was a summer day, Jessica wore a white summer dress, with sunflowers around it. Parts of her hair were in braids, but were combed down. She had shocking, yet innocent blue eyes, the kinds that makes anyone smile, even those who always frown.

She was like a symbol of the innocence, being 5 years old.

That day, she watched as the cargo boats swim by, often waving at them when they never noticed her. She sat by the planks, and she took out a daisy from her pocket. She began picking the petals from it, one by one, and singing.

"Ring around the rosy, a pocket full of posies!"

When her daisy ran out of petals, she threw the flower down to the river below, and began to skip towards the beach.

"Ashes! Ashes! We all fall down!"

Jessica began to giggle, falling down onto the sandy beaches, rolling around the dirt in one direction. When she stopped, she spread her arms and created a sand-angel. She stood up, standing proud above her art.

Then she skipped about, taking out another daisy, taking its petals one-by-one, laughing and playing. Never have anyone be so happy. She stopped by the piers and cargo areas, waving at the approaching ships.

Jessica spotted a dark brown pier. It was broken down, almost in debris. A wide grin filled the 5-year-old. It looked so much like a haunted house! Jessica skipped into the building.

"Hullo!" Jessica called out, laughing at her silliness. She walked around the broken pier, finding a large number 56 up in the window. She looked around, knowing that it was empty, knowing that it was dark and gloomy. Melancholy did not fit her innocence, but she continued to play around anyway.

"Yay! Look at me!" She said, skipping around, "I'm a treasure hunter!"

Pretending that there was a treasure map in her hand, she searched the pier, looking in boxes, under plank boards, in the broken wooden boats that lay inside the pier.

Jessica stopped in front of a large hole in the ground covered in water that leads to the rest of the Hudson River. She placed her finger in the small 'pond', circling it, watching her reflection.

"I wonder where the treasure would be?" She mused over, still circling her finger in the water.

"...what treasure?" A mysterious voice spoke from behind her.

Jessica saw a stranger's face in the reflection of the 'pond', and gasped in surprise. She turned around, to face the stranger. She then smiled.

"Hello mister!" Jessica chirped at the stranger.

It was a tall man, tall and old enough to be like her father. He wore an odd brown coat, with black sunglasses masking his eyes and owning messy brown hair. He did not smile at all. This doesn't disturb Jessica. He also had strange metallic snake-like monsters attached to his back; this doesn't disturb her either.

The man didn't speak. He owned a face, a sad face, with one full of pain and misery. He didn't have innocence, and it shocked him to see a girl in such dreary place.

"I'm looking for the pirate's treasure!" Jessica stood up with a smile.

A puzzled look filled the tormented stranger. "T-treasure?"

"Yup! I have the treasure map of ol' Captain Hook's treasure map right here!" Jessica showed him her map.

The stranger couldn't see it. He only saw her arms, wide apart as if she was holding a map. "I don't see it?"

"Of course silly! Its an invisible map! Captain Hook wouldn't want anyone to find his treasure, of course."

The stranger raised a brow. "How come you could see it, and I can't?" he asked coolly.

Jessica looked around left and right, and then leaned over to the tall stranger, motioning for his ear. He oddly leaned towards her, confused. She whispered in his ear, as if trying to pass a secret.

"You just have to look closely. And I mean very, very closely." Jessica whispered. The stranger leaned back, nodding and understanding.

"Okay, I got ya-"

"Shush!" Jessica quieted the man, her index finger up to her mouth, "You must keep it a secret! The ghost of Captain Hook would have my head if anyone else finds out!"

The stranger smiled sadly, playing along. His mouth made an 'oh', and he made his fingers move across his mouth as if 'zipping' it. "Okay."

Jessica nodded back, and showed him her map once more. "Can you see it now?"

The stranger blinked, and at one point, he could 'see' it. "Yes! I can!"

Jessica giggled at first, but then made a fixed face, once with a serious but silly face. "All right mateys! You're a pirate now!"

The stranger stood up straight. When he looked close enough, he could almost see that he and the little girl were in pirate costumes, and their imaginations sprung to life.

Jessica pretended to be a ship captain, trying to gruff her voice like silly. "Alright! We're going to find Hook's treasure, and you'll only address me as Captain Daisy!"

"Captain...Daisy?"

"Sure!" Jessica was back to her sweet voice, "small and cute in the outside, and fierce and tough in the inside!"

The stranger laughed. "Aye captain!"

"And I will refer you as..." Jessica eyed him from top to bottom, including the snake-like things behind his back. "I will refer you as...uh...first mate Squidy!"

"First mate...Squidy?" He looked nothing like a squid. The stranger couldn't help but laugh.

"Now let's find that golden treasure, Squidy!" Jessica-or rather Captain Daisy--- raised a stick from the ground, pretending it to be her pirate sword. She looked in her 'map', walking everywhere, with a stranger having no idea how he got into this situation.

"Are we near the treasure yet, Captain Daisy?" The stranger smiled at the silly 5-year-old.

"Well, Hook was an excellent mapmaker, he had to be really sure that no one would find it." She showed him the map once again.

"Hmm..." The stranger-or rather Squidy--- thought over the map, taking it from Capt. Daisy's hand. He looked through it with a musing face. "I think I know where the treasure is!"

"Daisy's" face brightened. "Really? Where is it?"

"Follow me...Captain Daisy!"

They began to walk around the Pier in circles, "Squidy" having no idea why he was doing this.

"Where is it, first mate Squidy?" Jessica asked the stranger.

He turned around, facing the younger girl once more, dropping his 'map'.

"Hmm...oh! I nearly forgotten! Now I know where it was!" 'Squidy' turned his back to 'Daisy', and turned around facing her once again. This time, his brown eyes were showing, and he was holding his black sunglasses.

"Here's Captain Hook's treasure!" 'Squidy' gave his sunglasses to 'Daisy'.

Jessica was confused. "But I thought that Hook's treasure was a golden one! It is all black!"

Grinning, the stranger leaned in to Jessica's ear, as if whispering to her. "Well, if you look at it very, very close enough..." the stranger whispered, "you'll see that it is gold. Besides, Hook doesn't want people to know that he has gold...right?"

Jessica grinned, leaning back and accepting the 'gold'. "Yay! We found Hook's treasure!"

The stranger just simply smiled. She is so innocent...it is good to meet someone innocent once in a while.

"Oh! I forgot!" Jessica looked to her pocket and took out her last daisy she had. "Here's your pirate paycheck! Thank you for helping me...uh..."

"My name is Otto." The stranger answered, gladly accepting her flower gift.

"Otto?" Jessica laughed. "That's a funny name! If you rearrange it, you'll get Toto, like that dog from the Wizard of Oz!"

"There's no place like home." Otto had the snake-like things come up to her and tickle her. Jessica giggled as the reaction. "I think you ought to go home, little girl."

"My name is not little girl!" Jessica corrected, "It is Jessica."

"Well, it is nice to meet you, little Jessica." Otto showed her the door.

"Nice to meet you too, mister Otto!" Jessica puts on her 'treasure' sunglasses, while Otto waved his own gift. "Mister Otto, would you like to come with me to my house?"

"Why?" he made a confused look.

"Mommy's cooking mac and cheese tonight! It is everyone's favorite."

Otto made a face as if in big thinking. "Um...okay."

"Yay!" Jessica cheerfully took his left hand, pulling him toward's her father's cargo area, happily skipping.

After that, they never returned to the 'Neverland' again.

"Daddy! Daddy!" Jessica ran up to her father. Just in time too; he was ready to go.

"Hey sweetheart! Ready to go home?"

"Guess what? I made a new friend!" her father was puzzled at the sight of her black sunglasses.

"Where did you get that?" Jessica's father pointed to the sunglasses. Jessica pointed to it.

"We found it from our treasure map! It was a gold treasure from Captain Hook himself!"

"Oh, that's nice."

"And, my new friend is Otto! He's right behind you. Otto, say hello to daddy!"

Jessica's father turned around; he didn't see anyone.He began to grin.

"Nice to meet you Mr. Otto!" He shook an invisible hand. "Jessie, we're going home."

"Can Otto come with us?" Jessica asked her father.

"Sure."

So, they went on home. Though, that night, Jessica decided to draw a picture of 'Otto', out of pure boredom.

"Done!" Jessica chirped, lifting up her new portrait proudly. She began to run to her father. "Daddy! Daddy! Look at what I drew!"

"Huh?" he looked at her picture. The picture looked like the kind of art any other 5 year old would know how to draw---a stick figure. And not just a stick figure either. She had brown coloring surrounding the figure's body (as if wearing a coat?), and 4 squiggly lines spread out around the figure, drawn from pencil. Why is it so familiar?

"That's Otto!" Jessica pointed to her picture.

"Who is Otto?" Jessica's mother asked from the kitchen.

"Her new imaginary friend." Jessica's father answered. Though, he felt disturbed about the picture. Was that Doctor Octopus? The same guy who robbed that bank and murdered and nearly killed a trainload of people? Was he the same one who nearly 'destroyed the world', but was 'stopped' by Spider-man?

He looked down at his daughter, who grinned innocently back. He smiled proudly at her.

Jessica, the girl full of imaginations.

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(grins) Well? Good? Bad? Corny? Review, Plz.


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